LOTUS will be celebrated with an “interactive and accessible” central feature at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The festival, which takes place from July 8th to 11th this year, has celebrated a different automaker every year since the 1990s through sculpture. In 2019 – the last time the Festival of Speed was held due to the coronavirus pandemic – the central display was dedicated to Aston Martin to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its first World Sports Car Championship victory.
Lotus was last celebrated in 2012 with a 3D Infinity Loop sculpture intended to represent the “singularity of the purpose of a Lotus racing car”. This year’s sculpture will take a different direction, taking into account the fact that some people can only view the feature from their homes.
The feature was traditionally designed by British artist Gerry Judah, who worked with automakers to design the feature. His standout pieces included hanging a Ferrari F1 car from a Roman arch in 1997, attaching five Porsche Le Mans cars to giant spikes in the ground in 1998, and building a 160-ton arch over Goodwood House in 2014, on which he settled a replica of a Mercedes-Benz W25 from 1934 and a Mercedes F1 from 2013.
The British automaker joins an elite group of brands that have been celebrated twice by Judah. Others are Audi and Porsche.
The Duke of Richmond, owner of the Goodwood Estate and founder of the Festival of Speed, said, “We are delighted that Lotus will be a key feature at this year’s Festival of Speed, presented by Mastercard.
“Lotus cars raced at Goodwood in the 1950s and 1960s with great success, including setting the ultimate lap record in 1965, and this year’s Central Feature will serve as a fitting milestone in their past, present and future achievements.
“The sculpture is expected to be one of the most dramatic and futuristic, bringing in elements of interactivity for modern audiences that align with Lotus’ forward-thinking mindset and perspective.”
Lotus will also attract attention as the festival progresses as it has chosen the event as the stage for the unveiling of the Emira, its last internal combustion engine car. It emerged that the car would be called Emira last month, and dispelled rumors that it would be a hybrid – there will reportedly be multiple gasoline engines, including a “highly efficient” one that boss Matt Windle said was on a ” Emira ”. new partnership ”.
The Emira will have a mid-engine in the middle of a lightweight structure made of extruded aluminum (a Lotus trademark) and will adopt the design language of the Evija electric hypercar, which is currently in the final stages of development.
Further announcements for this year’s Festival of Speed include a memorial to Sterling Moss, often known as “Mr Goodwood”, who passed away in April 2020. The Mercedes-Benz 300SLR ‘722’ in which Moss won the Mille Miglia in 1955 will be exhibited at both the Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival in September.
Moss competed in 56 races at Goodwood and won 21 times, but the track was also the site of his retired fall in 1962.
A number of F1 teams and racing drivers have also been confirmed to participate in the Festival of Speed 2021. Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren’s driver pair, will perform, and teams Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and Williams will all be represented.
The theme of this year’s Festival of Speed is “Maestros – Motorsports great all-rounders” – a celebration for teams, drivers and brands that have been successful in various disciplines.
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